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. Nov. 10, 1925- 1,560,781

H. H. HAIR ET AL DEVICE FOR TAKING CORE SAMPLES IN ROTARY DRILLING FiledApril 11, 1923 flarnjfiffalk C/mse. i fizz/M12 fiflorzzey [fave/2607.5.

Patented Nov. 10, 1925.

UNITED STATES r rsnr orrics.

HARDY H HAIR, OF NEWE'ORT BEACH, AND CHASE E- SUT'IGN, OE LOS ANGELES,

GALIEORN A.

DEVICE FOR TAKING CORE SAMPLES IN ROTARY DRILLING.

Application filed. April 11, 1923. Serial No. 631,287.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HARDY H. Ham and CHAsn E. SUTTON, citizens of theUnited States, residing in Newport Beach, county of Orange, State ofCalifornia, and Los Angeles, county of IJOS Angeles, State ofCalifornia, respectively, have invented new and useful Improvements inDevices for Taking Core Samples in Rotary Drilling, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in means for taking samples ofthe formation being drilled through in sinking wells, such as oil, orwater wells, or other bore holes; and relates,'in its more specificaspect more particularly to the taking of samples or cores, as they areusually termed, 111 rotary drilling operations. And the 1mprovements ofthe present invention also relate more particularly to that general typeof core taking apparatus that is described in the application for U. S.Letters Patent on device for taking core samples in rotary drilling, byHardy H. I-Iair, February 27th, 1922, Serial No. 539,392. The presentinvention has to do with several matters of improvement in suchapparatus, to facili tate the taking of the cores, to facilitate theirremoval from the core barrel, to facilitate the mounting and removal ofthe core barrel on the drilling bit, and various other things that willbe well understood from the following detailed specification. All of theobjects and corresponding features of accomplishment of the inventionwill be best understood from an understanding of a specific andpreferred form of device illustrative of the invention; and accordinglyI proceed to a detailed description of such a device, reference for thatpurpose being had to the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is avertical longitudinal section showing our improved core taking apparatusmounted in a typical form of rotary drilling bit;

Fig. 2 is a cross section on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a crosssection on line 33 of Fig. 1; I A

Fig; 4 is an enlarged cross 4+4 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section showing a slight modificationof structure of the upper end of the core barrel.

In the drawings we show at the body section on line or mandrel of adrilling bit of the disk cutter type, this mandrel carrying two diskcutters 11 whose operation is well understood in the art. We mount acore barrel 12 in a central vertical position in mandrel 10, the corebarrel preferably, in the form here illustrated, extending in one piecefrom a point near the cutters 11 upward to a point above the mandrel.Thus, the major part of the core barrel, designated by the numeral 13 inthe drawings, may preferably be formed of a piece of heavy walled pipe,such as extra or double extra heavy hydraulicpipe. Its lower end carriesa cutter shoe 1a, the details of which will be explained; and at itsupper end it has a core barrel extension 15 whose details will beexplained. This extension may be of any suitable length, depending uponthe length of core sample it is desired to take; and, as will be notedfrom the drawings, the upper end of barrel 13 and the extension 15project upwardly into the hollow interior of the drill pipe or stem 16whose lower end connects with mandrel 10 through the taper pin-andsocketjoint 17.

Shoe 14 is mounted on the lower end of a barrel section 18 by means of athreaded and shouldered joint as illustrated at 18. This thread mayeither be straight or tapered and it is preferably designed to give theshoe a joint of maximum strength with the barrel, and the threadsfurthermore may be fitted tightly enough that they will not be likely tounscrew if the bit is rotated reversely to its normal direction ofrotation. The normal direction of rotation is right-handed; and thethread at 18 is also right handed so that there is normally a tendencyto tighten it. This joint 18 is placed high enough so that when it isremoved a clear open'space is left adjacent nuts 11 of disks 11.This'facilitates removal of the disks for sharpening without thenecessity of removing the whole core barrel. The opening 1 1 throughshoe 14: is smaller than the opening through barrel l3; and I prefer tomake this opening 146 taper toward its lower end, so that the opening atthe extreme lower end of the shoe is substantially smaller than theopening in the barrel. At its lower edge shoe it has formation cuttingteeth 1 2 that will cut into the formation and separate a core that willrise in the barrel as the bit and the corebarrel move downwardly. Wemake the shoe ,the shoe may be split longitudinally as at 14;. The upperends of the halves are held together by joint 18; the lowerends by acollar 14: threaded righthandedly onto the lower part of the shoe.

Barrel section 13 is mounted in the mandrel in such a manner as to givethe barrel a positive and powerful rotational drive from the mandrel andat the same time to allowo'f vertical adjustment of the barrel withrelation to the mandrel and cutters ll. Depending upon the type offormation being worked in, it is desirable to have the cutting edge ofthe shoea greater or lesser distance below the cutting edges of cuttersFor instance, in soft formations it is desirable to have the cuttingshoe at a greater advance below the cutters; while in harder formationsitis desirable to have less advance. And we also mount the barrel in themandrelin such a manner as to make it easily removable from the mandrelfor the purpose of facilitating removal of the core from the barrel.

The barrel section 13' extends through a longitudinal central bore 25-in the mandrel. The barrel has running threads 26 cut on it, and; nuts27 and 28, running on these threads, bear on the upper and lower endsurfaces of the mandrel. The lower nut may preferably be completelyenclosed in a recess 29; and under both nuts, in recesses "30; there arewashers 31 of 'leatheror other suitable material that, compressed by thenuts, make a tight fit in the recess and around the barrel and therebyexclude any fine sand or silt that might otherwise find its way into thebore 25 around the barrel and thus render it very difficult to removethe barrel from the mandrel. By using these washers and thus making thebore liquid tight, we are enabled to make the borelarge enough so thatthe mandrel slips into and outof it easily; all without danger of themandrel becoming stuck in the bore.

WVe do not mean by this that the bore is so large that the mandrel hasany appreciableplay in it, but only large enough to make for the barrela freely sliding fit.

The. barrel has on it, and preferably formed integrally with it, a keyor wing 32; and the mandrel has several key slots .33 of differentlengths, as will beseen by reference to Fig. l. 7 Key 32 may be slippedinto any one of these key slots from below, the key slots extending downto the lower end of the mandrel; and. then by vproper operation of nuts27 and 28 the upper end of the key may be, if desired, drawn up againstthe upper end of the slot in which it is placed. Through thisarrangement the barrel may be placed at varying heights with referenceto the mandrel and cutters 11 and at the same time the barrel is given apositive and powerful driving connection with the mandrel. The upper nut27 may be flattened off at opposite sides, so as not to coverthe watercirculation holes as pand in diameter as it is pushed up through thebarrel. In order to keep'the core, ,particularly if it is of soft orsandy material, from working out through slots 40 we cover the slotswith cover plates ll, It will be understood that the circulation water,during drilling'operations, is being constantly forced down'thro ugh theinterior .of the drillstem; and to protect the core fromthis downwardwater current we put a cap 42 over the upper end of extension 15. Thiscap has an interior diameter larger than the exterior diameter ofextension 15 so that a space is left between the two to allow any waterabove the core to be forced out under the cap. The upper end of extenasshown in Fig. 5, the cap may be supported in such a position that itsupper end is spaced from the upper end of extension 15. The cap may besupported on extension 15 in any suitable manner, as by rivets 4L7.

- Having describeda preferred form of my invention, we claim:

1. In combination with a rotary drilling bit, a core taking barrelcentrally mounted in the bit, the barrel including a section thatextends vertically through the bit fromits lower surface to its uppersurface, andmeans for holding thebarrel in place including nuts threadedon the barrel and bearing on the upper and lower surface of the bit.

2; In combination with a rotary drilling bit, a core taking barrelcentrally mounted for holding the barrel in place including nutsthreaded on the barrel and bearing on the upper and lower surface of thebit, and washers under the nuts and tightly surrounding the barrel toexclude liquid and fine solid matter.

3. In combination with a rotary drilling bit, a core taking barrelcentrally mounted in the bit, the barrel including a section thatextends vertically through the bit from its lower surface to its uppersurface, and means for holding the barrel in place including nutsthreaded on the barrel and bearing on the upper and lower surface of thebit, a key on the barrel and the bit having a plurality of key receivingslots of different lengths, whereby the position of the barrel withreference to the bit may be changed by putting the barrel key intodifferent slots.

4. In combination with a rotary drilling bit, a core taking barrelcentrally mounted in the bit, an annular formation cutting shoe mountedon the lower end of the barrel, the opening through the shoe being ofless diameter than the opening through the barrel; and an upward barrelextension expansible in diameter.

5. In combination with a rotary drilling bit, a core taking barrelcentrally mounted in the bit, an annular formation cutting shoe mountedon the lower end of the barrel, the opening through the shoe being ofless diameter than the opening through the barrel; and an upward barrelextension of comparatively light material slotted lengthwise to allowdiametrical expansion.

6. In combination with a rotary drilling bit, a core taking barrelcentrally mounted in the bit and having an annular cutting the openingthrough the shoe being of less diameter than the opening through thebarrel; and an upward barrel extension of comparatively light materialslotted lengthwise to allow diametrical expansion, and a cap over theupper end of the barrel extension with its side wall spaced from thewall of the barrel and with an opening at its lower end, there being anopening from the upper end of the barrel into the upper part of the cap.

8. In combination with a rotary drilling bit, a core taking barrelcentrally mounted in the bit, the barrel including a section thatextends vertically through the bit from its lower surface to its uppersurface, and means for holding the barrel in place, including a key onthe barrel and the bit having a plurality of key receiving slots ofdifferent lengths, whereby the position of the barrel with reference tothe bit may be changed by putting the barrel key into different slots.

In witness that we claim the foregoing we have hereunto subscribed ournames this 28 day of Mar. 1923.

HARDY H. HAIR. CHASE E. SUTTON.

